Portswood High Street and the Broadway - part one

Over the next couple of months, we will be looking into the busy road that has long been a popular shopping district.

From B&Q to Belmont House - here are some facts you may or may not already know about Portswood Road:

1. B&Q had their first permanent premises in Portswood Road

Richard Block and David Quayle first opened the doors to Block & Quayle in Portswood on March 5, 1969. It became known simply as B&Q soon after The DIY store opened in the old Plaza Hall building at 506 Portswood Road.

The hall was built in 1929 by local musician Ernest Whyte and was used mainly as a dance hall and music venue.

It’s thought that films may have been shown at the venue at some point although there is no record of the premises ever having been licensed for cinema use, and it is much more likely to have been a dance hall which showed the occasional private movie.

The building was used as a furniture warehouse in the 1950s.

B&Q’s first headquarters came in the shape of a 16ft caravan in a car park which cost the pair £123.

By the end of the 1970s, B&Q had 26 stores in the south, and in the 1980s became part of the Kingfisher brand, then known as Pater Noster.

Further growth came in the 1990s when they merged with France’s leading DIY retailer, Castorama.

They became the largest DIY retailer in Europe before moving into the Asian market.

A fire in the early 1990s destroyed the building Portswood Road.

2. Southern Counties Dairies once did business from Portswood Road

Southern Counties Dairies was located on the corner of Portswood Road and Highfield Lane.

The old business signage can still be seen on the facade of the building.

The shop has most recently been the takeaway Pizza Chicken Hot 4 You.

3. Portswood Library is on land that used to be part of Portswood House estate

Portswood Library was built in 1915 on land that had previously been part of the Portswood House estate.

General Giles Stibbert, a serving officer of the East India Company, built Portswood House in 1776.

After recently acquiring the Portswood estate, he extended it northward to St Denys.

To design the house, Stibbert commissioned John Crunden, who had designed his main residence in Hereford Street, London.

It was built at the southern end of the estate, just to the north of modern Lawn Road.

The original building was a plain structure with two chimneys but was improved over the years to become a much more substantial building.

In 1832, George Jones purchased the estate and sold off portions for building plot soon after.

The house was razed to the ground in 1852.

From Highfield Lane to Brookvale Road, plots along Portswood Road were sold off in 1913 and most of the area was purchased for the development of shops. The Palladium Cinema was the first building to be constructed there.

An influential member of the Public Library Committee, Sidney Kimber, bought the site beside the cinema for the new library which was constructed in 1915.

The frontage of the cinema was adapted to suit a supermarket and is now Poundland. Portswood Library is still a library.

4. The aforementioned Portswood House wasn’t the only one

Portswood Lodge was renamed Portswood House years after the original was demolished.

Built around 1800, Portswood Lodge was owned by Walter Taylor, whose family owned a factory at Woodmill that produced blocks for the Royal Navy.

stretched back to what is now Brookvale Road.

During the middle of the 19th century, the house was owned by Captain Abbott and it was renamed Abbott’s Park.

The house was purchased by Walter Perkins in 1875, who extended the estate to the west and renamed it Portswood House - twenty years after the original Portswood House had been demolished.

In addition to making structural changes, Perkins added bay windows that give the house a post-Georgian appearance.

During The First World War, the house was used by the Red Cross for making clothes for troops. The house was demolished in 1923.

5. Portswood Road once had a Woolworths

There was a time when every major shopping district had a Woolworths and Portswood was no exception.

For many of us, Woolworths triggers memories of carefully choosing pick-and-mix sweets, gazing desirously at the latest toys, grabbing a bite to eat in the cafe, and begrudgingly waiting for relatives outside the changing rooms.

The store opened at 164-168 Portswood Road in 1955 and closed in January 2009. The flagship Southampton store in Above Bar had closed almost two years earlier.

The building in Portswood is now occupied by the International Food store.

6. Belmont House was a short-lived building

Belmont House was located at the junction of modern-day Portswood Road and Belmont Road.

In 1854 the Hampshire Independent, a forerunner of the Daily Echo, published a sales advert describing it as a recently built Gothic villa owned by William Elliston.

The advert stated that the house included a: “drawing room, dining, kitchen, scullery, and offices, four bed rooms, dressing room, water closet, with an excellent garden, ornamentally planted, and greenhouse.”

The advert went on to state “This attractive residence has been recently built, and is finished in a very superior manner; has an abundant supply of excellent water, and is peculiarly eligible to persons seeking a residence in one of the most beautiful and healthy spots within so short a distance of the town.

“Immediate possession can be given.”

Belmont House had been demolished by the 1880s.

What do you think should be included in part 2 of our look at Portswood Road? Let us know or share your memories by emailing ian.crump@dailyecho.co.uk .